India, UK will be able to resolve issues for FTA in coming weeks: Goyal
Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal on Friday said India and the United Kingdom (UK) will be able to resolve the pending issues for a free trade agreement (FTA) in the coming weeks as the remaining issues are not insurmountable.
‘FTAs look to the future with crystals. You really have to predict how the deal will play out twenty, thirty, fifty years into the future. So they have been drawn up very carefully. You never rush to make a free trade agreement. This must be done with great care and taking into account different interests. Both parties are looking at issues that are very sensitive to each other and also very important to each other. We hope that we can reach a conclusion in the coming weeks,” Goyal was quoted as saying by news agency ANI.
Goyal said both sides had several rounds of negotiations and 20 of the 26 chapters have been sealed. ‘We are currently actively engaged in dialogue on various tracks. Of the few issues still pending, nothing is impossible to navigate,” he added.
On Wednesday, Commerce Minister Sunil Barthwal told reporters that they are not working within certain deadlines to finalize negotiations on the FTA as there are issues that are somewhat complex in nature and of economic importance to both countries.
‘We don’t work with deadlines. Although as such there are internal timelines and round discussions are taking place there,” the Commerce Secretary said, adding that issues are being examined carefully and in a round manner and are expected to be concluded soon.
Thirteen rounds of negotiations on this issue have been completed so far, and the chief negotiators of India and Britain are expected to hold the next round of negotiations soon to resolve remaining issues, including electric vehicle concessions and greater market access in services, including others.
The deal, which was launched in January last year, was originally scheduled to close by Diwali (October 24, 2022), but the deadline was missed due to several adverse developments.
During his visit to Tesla’s San Francisco factory earlier this week, Goyal said no decision has been made when Tesla will come to India and what role it will play in India’s private sector involvement in space. ‘These are for civil servants to look at.
The purpose of my visit was very clear. I wanted to connect with the high-quality, senior-level Indian talent that is contributing to Tesla’s success story. I also really wanted to see the electric vehicle factory, because we are now increasingly contributing to the production of electric vehicles through parts and components.
Last year, India exported about a billion dollars worth of goods. This year, India’s exports to Tesla will almost double to $1.9 billion. “India produces very high quality products, spare parts and auto parts, which I am sure will help us expand our electric car ecosystem,” he added.
Goyal said that as more and more companies from around the world enter India and local Tatas and Mahindras expand their operations, India is poised to become a major market and producer of electric vehicles. “The idea behind the visit (to the Tesla factory) was to understand the story and see where it goes next,” he added.